Magenta Manta Love Tree

Description

MagentaMantaLoveTree is the sophomore album by the American metal funk band DigHayZoose, released on Brainstorm Artists International in 1993, manufactured and distributed by Word. The album was recorded December 30, 1992 to January 13, 1993 by Gene Eugene of Adam Again fame at The Green Room in Huntington Beach and at McCrummy Studios in Whittier, California; with Eugene and the band producing.

I was once told that if you’ve heard three of the Red Hot Chili Pepper’s songs, with the possible exception of their incredible cover of Stevie Wonder’s «Superstition», you’ve heard everything they can do. Such was thought to be the case with funk/metal/disco wunderkinds Dig Hay Zoose after their 1991 debut release, ‘StruggleFish‘. However, put a couple more years under their collective belts, and let them all get old enough to play for the club audience that is most apt to appreciate their music, stir together the accumulated performance and songwriting experience, and, by golly, you’ve got some artistic growth on your hand.

That is not to say, however, that they still don’t wear their influences on their sleeves. The most prominent are still the Chili Pepper/Led Zeppelin comparisons, but they have also managed to incorporate some of the textured rhythms and Beatle-esque harmonies of King’s X, and not a little of that Seattle grunge sound. More surprising, however, is the enormous amount of jazz that has crept into their writing, making Dig Hay Zoose stand out quite a bit from the rest of the funk/metal pack.

The thick vocal harmonies and scat (yes, scat) vocal stylings in the bridge on the opening number, «Dancing in Concert with the Infinte», are the first indications of the band’s growth. Similar elements – the jazzy horn charts and slow soulful sax solo compliments of The Choir‘s Dan Michaels on «Secret», and near disco funk/jazz of «Diggin’ Away» – show some real promise.

Other songs, such as «Slatherage», show the band’s confidence in longer songs, without becoming tedious or wearing the number into the ground. The song is saved be several clever changes in tempo and intensity, from bombastic Zep-styled metal, to a more ethereal, moody, almost Choir-like soundscape, and back again. Similarly, «MagentaMantaLoveTree» again showcases the band’s talent at writing moodier numbers, but suffers by being a near dead ringer for King’s X «Six Broken Soldiers».

Lyrically, Dig Zoose displays much less of the juvenile artistry that plagued much of ‘StruggleFish’. There is nothing as vapid as the «DHZ (Theme Song)», and Jesus is no longer merely “in the groove.” Images and metaphors develop and stretch the imagination in such songs as «Dancing…» and «Magenta…». But not all is so well developed. «H8 Machine» is a funk/metal/disco/thrash anthem against segregation that registers the intellectual equivalent of an MTV “Free Your Mind” report, and «Detention 3 a.m.» sounds like an attempt to record a favorite Mid-Western pastime, cow-tipping.

Other lyrics are nearly the opposite extreme, so bleak they seem to offer no hope. “I’ve been waiting for you for such a long time/ Sometimes I think you ain’t coming back,” Phil sings in «Doubt». While in «Circle of Pain», the band puts on their best Alice in Chains to offer lines like: “Holy Father, turn you eyes from me/ I’m unworthy/ You should punish me.”

Dig Hay Zoose contributes one trademark rap, «Blackeyed Pea», bearing out the Chili Pepper-influence. Though lead singer Phil is an average rapper at best, Cartoon from Freedom of Soul adds some turntables and flows on the mic to spice up the proceedings a bit.

Though not a perfect record, ‘MagentaMantaLoveTree’ easily sidesteps the dreaded sophomore slump. In Christian metal and alternative circles, this could wind up being the party album of the year. But, most importantly, it doesn’t sum up the band in only three songs. They want your respect more than that. [Brad Caviness, Syndicate, Vol 8/Issue 4, July/August 1993]

> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/magenta-manta-love-tree/1449777053)

CD tracklist:

01. Beginning – 0:16
02. Dancing In Concert With The Infinite – 4:42
03. Whoompfinashun # 7 – 0:11
04. Slatherage – 7:31
05. Brave Strong Song – 0:08
06. Lift – 4:58
07. Magenta Manta Love Tree – 8:34
08. No One Told You? – 0:10
09. Secret – 4:40
10. Detention 3:00 A.M. – 0:25
11. Penalty Box – 0:32
12. Circle Of Pain – 4:41
13. Doubt – 5:55
14. Diggin’ Away – 3:05
15. Vanillanator – 0:09
16. H8 Machine – 3:27
17. Untitled – 0:20
18. Black-Eyed Pea – 5:45
19. 99¢ Smile – 0:18
20. B.D.O.C. – 2:34
21. Regret – 5:41
22. Twenty-second Track – 0:49

Note: Simultaneously released on cassette and CD by Brainstorm.

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DigHayZoose’s debut album (1991’s Struggle Fish) made it readily apparent that the Kansas City-based funk/​rock group knew how to lay down a groove. However, it was - not incorrectly - described by reviewers at the time as being too much of a Red Hot Chili Peppers clone, something that’s particularly obvious on songs like ​«Psychedelic Mommy», ​«Water’s Way (Part 2)», and ​«Zeptune».

The band’s follow-up, 1993’s MagentaMantaLoveTree, built on their funk origins while adding metal, grunge, psychedelia, and even hip-hop to their repertoire. The resulting album is considerably more ambitious than its predecessor. Indeed, it might’ve been too ambitious. With twenty-two tracks, nearly half of which are short sketches, interludes, and gags, spread out over 65 minutes, along with the aforementioned genre mash-up, MagentaMantaLoveTree is a sprawling, uneven album that’s by turns fascinating and frustrating, impassioned and inconsistent.

One minute, you’re listening to the pitch-perfect funk/​metal blend that is ​«Slatherage» (my favorite DigHayZoose song, and arguably their heaviest) or the title track, an eight-minute psychedelic proclamation of love for a future spouse. The next, you’re wading through samples of Mr. Rogers and cow tipping escapades, or songs like ​«Secret» and ​«B.D.O.C.» that hew closer to Struggle Fish, and as a result, feel more pedestrian compared to the rest of the album.

One thing that’s never in doubt, however, is the band’s musicianship. DigHayZoose tear it up on every single one of MagentaMantaLoveTree​’s songs. Their playing is tight and precise, even on the album’s weaker moments. Of special note is Phil Schlotterer’s vocals. His wailing reaches Chris Cornell-like levels of throat-shredding on ​«Slatherage» while ​«MagentaMantaLoveTree» features a dreamier side and ​«Diggin’ Away» finds him striking a lounge singer pose.

These days, it often feels like Christian artists, and specifically those working outside the mainstream Christian music industry, tend to refer to their faith subtly or obliquely. There’s nothing wrong with that approach, and indeed, it may be a necessary response to both our current age’s skepticism and the Christian music industry’s proclivity for watered down ​“positive and encouraging” music. In any case, it’s both strange and refreshing to hear DigHayZoose sing so openly and fearlessly about their faith, albeit with some psychedelic imagery thrown in for good measure.

«Dancing in Concert With the Infinite» opens the album on a worshipful note with Schlotterer singing ​“Up on a mountain scaled by the praises we sing/ ​Worshiping you God, grace that transcends everything… I want to thank you for your Son you willingly gave/ ​He is alive now bringing me out of my grave.” Later, on ​«Lift», the band considers their own mortality and the questions that it raises, while ​«Doubt» wrestles with… well… doubts (“Well I’ve been waiting for You such a long time/ ​Sometimes I think you ain’t ever comin’ back”).

The album’s lyrics tackle other topics, such as the title track’s aforementioned longing for a wife expressed via imagery from a trippier Song of Solomon (“Blue-green grasses cradle us/ ​Underneath Orion’s Belt as we two melt into sun”), ​«H8 Machine»‘s excoriation of racism, and the groovy environmental concerns in ​«Black-Eyed Pea».

Side note: The artwork on the actual MagentaMantaLoveTree CD featured a fetus, and I seem to recall that caused some controversy with certain Christian bookstores and retailers (which were pretty much the only avenues for getting this album back in 1993). It tells you something about the weirdness that was the ​‘90s Christian retail market when a band so openly and poetically Christian could generate controversy over such a trivial detail.

All ​“controversies” aside, MagentaMantaLoveTree remains a strange, intriguing, and eclectic nugget of heavy Christian music from the ​‘90s, the product of a Christian indie/​underground scene that sadly doesn’t exist anymore (or even could exist anymore). They might’ve been too ambitious for their own good, but when DigHayZoose was on - as is so obviously the case with ​«Slatherage», the title track, and ​«H8 Machine» - their heavy brand of funk was absolutely righteous. [Jason Morehead, Opus, March 3, 2018]